there. >> my daughter texted me. she came in to pick up her fiance from work. she came in through the nordstrom exit and started hearing shots. luckily, her instinct was to run towards him. if she would have turned around and went back, she probably would have ran right into the shooter. >> terror in a portland suburb as a masked gunman opens fire in a mall crowded with holiday shoppers. good morning, i'm bill karins. this is "way too early." thanks for being up with us on this 12/12/12. there's a lot to get to this morning, including a new law in the car capital of america, as republicans in michigan passed right-to-work legislation despite large union protests. we'll have the governor's reaction, straight ahead. also, north korea successfully launched a long-range rocket, putting an unidentified object into orbit and putting the region on high alert. but first, we have a developing story back here in the states. in a suburb of portland, oregon, three people are dead after a gunman went on a shooting

rampage inside a mall filled with holiday shoppers. witnesses say it was a chaotic scene inside the mall as the man reportedly dressed in body armor and wearing a white mask opened fire with a high-power rifle. this morning, investigators are trying to learn more about the motive and the suspect who police say shot himself to death. nbc's jay gray joins us from portland with the latest details. jay? >> reporter: hey, there. yeah, bill, just a tragedy unfolded here yesterday afternoon and mall's still on lockdown early this morning as local, state and federal agents continue to comb the area looking for any evidence trying to answer obviously the questions of how and why all of this happened. they say that's going to take some time. as many as 60 rounds fired during the shooting rampage. as you talked about, two victims dead, one seriously injured but said to be in stable condition early this morning, and then the gunman, of course, turning the gun on himself. so, again, investigators trying to understand what may have been behind the shooting. they haven't released the name of the gunman at this point,

though they say they do know who he is. they continue to work here and say that's going to take some time. in fact, many people who ran yesterday as the shots rang out left their cars, left their purses, left baby strollers and things like that, and officers have told them point blank it may be a few days before you get that back. no indication of when the mall may reopen, though we know when it does, it will be under high security. a lot of other stores and shops in the area. still no indication of what the police presence will be like there once things get back and moving later this morning, but everyone's still very tense, very shocked at what happened here, bill. >> yeah, they can all picture what it would be like. they've all been in a mall like the one behind you. nbc's jay gray in portland. thanks, jay. turning now to politics and the fiscal cliff negotiation. president obama and speaker boehner are keeping an open dialogue. speaking on the phone yesterday after trading secret proposals to avoid the year-end deadline. with few details revealed, officials say the president

lowered his initial asking price on tax cuts to $1.4 trillion. president boehner took his displeasure to the house floor. >> we're still waiting for the white house to identify what spending cuts the president is willing to make as part of the balanced approach that he promised the american people. where are the president's spending cuts? the longer the white house slow-walks this process, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff. >> president obama responded, showing republicans where they could find the details. >> it's not a mystery. we've seen this before. this is the document that contains the specific spending cuts. the speaker of the house sent us a proposal that was two pages long that included one sentence on revenue. the proposal here includes, i believe from pages 17 to 45,

details on proposed spending cuts by the president, pages 17 to 45. i recommend them to you. >> so, at this point, a deal before christmas looking unlikely. as senate majority leader harry reid admitted yesterday. but in an interview with barbara walters, president obama predicted that republicans would eventually give in on taxes. >> the most important thing we can do is make sure the middle class taxes do not go up on january 1st, and i'm pretty confident that republicans would not hold middle class taxes hostage to try to protect tax cuts for high-income individuals. >> prediction. are you going to be able to raise taxes, yes or no? >> oh, taxes are going to go up one way or another. >> oh, they are? >> and i think the key is to make sure that taxes go up on high-end individuals like you and me, barbara. we can afford it. it is entirely possible for us to come up with a deal, but time is running short. >> now, the president went on to say that if republicans can move on taxes, he's prepared to do

"some tough things" on the spending side. controversial right-to-work measures will soon be the law of the land in michigan. republican governor rick snyder signed the measure yesterday, despite widespread protests by the labor union at the state capitol in lansing. the law will make it illegal to require an employee to pay union dues as a condition of their employment. despite michigan's long history of controlled labor, the state is controlled by republican-dominated house and senate. yesterday the house rejected last-minute pleas to delay the bill's passage. even president obama, who won michigan by ten points last month, was unable to sway state lawmakers at the last minute during his visit to detroit. but governor snyder says it was the union who started this fight in the first place. >> i asked them not to go forward, and the reasons i said it is you're going to start a very divisive discussion regarding collective bargaining first, but it also will get into right to work. the right-to-work discussion continued to escalate and was becoming very divisive. the way i viewed it is it's on

the table, it's a hot issue, let's show some leadership. so i said when i reviewed it, it's a good thing. it's about being pro-worker, it's about economic development. we will get more jobs coming to michigan because we're going to be more competitive. >> the governor also argued his state's union battle was completely different from what unfolded in wisconsin and ohio. >> i think it's important to make a distinction with wisconsin and ohio. that was about collective bargaining. that was about the relationship between employers and unions. this has nothing to do with that. right-to-work is about the relationship between the union and workers, and this is about being co-workers, giving workers the choice. if anything, this should encourage unions to be more responsive to workers in terms of saying they need to show a value proposition of why they're a great place to join. >> now to the numbers. michigan has the fifth highest percentage of unionized workers at more than 17%, but it's hardly alone attacking the right-to-work laws. 23 other states have already done the same. now developing overseas,

north korea has defied international warnings by firing another long-range rocket, the second such launch under new leader kim jong-un. the surprise launch happened last night after north korea indicated it was having technical problems that could take weeks to resolve. fooled us. korea state tv claims the launch was successful, delivering a "peaceful satellite" in orbit. however, the u.s. and south korea believe it was another attempt by the north koreans to improve their long-range missile capabilities. now to the ongoing violence in syria. in a major diplomatic shift for the united states, the obama administration is now formally recognizing the syrian rebels in an effort to put an end to president bashar al assad's rule. president obama made the announcement in an interview with abc news just hours before a meeting of syrian opposition leaders and their international allies in morocco. >> we've made a decision that the syrian opposition coalition is now inclusive enough, is

reflective and representative enough of the syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the syrian people in opposition to the assad regime, and so we will provide them recognition. and obviously, with that recognition comes responsibilities on the part of that coalition -- >> that's a big step. >> it is a big step. there is a small element of those who oppose the assad regime that are, in fact, affiliated with al qaeda in iraq, and we have designated them as a terrorist organization, and we are going to make clear to distinguish between those elements of the opposition. >> well, despite recognizing the rebel movement, the white house press secretary, jay carney, confirmed earlier in the day that the u.s. doesn't plan to provide arms to the rebels. last week, u.s. officials said there was evidence that the syrian government was preparing for potential chemical weapons, but yesterday, defense secretary leon panetta said new

intelligence shows they may be backing off. well, now to west virginia. did you see this? a national gas line exploded in a town just ten miles north of charleston. at first, witnesses thought a plane had crash, as the flames shot up over 75 feet in the air before it was put out. at least five homes up in flames, destroyed, and a portion of the nearby freeway was damaged. officials say the area within 1,000 feet of the explosion site was evacuated. many of the surrounding area still without power. people were treated for smoke inhalation. no major injuries, amazingly, where reported in that natural gas line blaze. the national transportation safety board, of course, will launch an investigation. and finally, grammar winner and virtuoso star ravi shankar has died. you've probably heard his influence in the most famous music. he became friends with the beatle and a longtime collaborator with george harrison. he burst on to the western music scene with legendary performances at the monterey festival and woodstock. he performed with the new york

philharmonic and inspired composers like philip black. he was nominated for a score for the movie "gandhi." he had undergone surgery for respiratory infections in the fall before being nominated for another grammy. he is survived by two daughters, including singer norah jones. ravi shankar 92 years old. let me know why you're awake. shoot me an e-mail or tweet me @billkarins. we'll read the best responses later in the show. but still ahead, the battle for new york. carmelo anthony lights up the court. this was in brooklyn and it was payback time against the knicks. highlights in a thrilling finish in sports. and this is a good one, jon stewart channels rapper eminem, coming up with rhymes for the michigan protest. that and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back.

she spoke in court for the first time since the trial began. sobbing, she asked the judge for mercy, saying she was ashamed and living a nightmare. the judge was not persuaded. he told hemsley she was a product of greed and was at the ape yej of a period of wrongdoing. the sentence, he said, was a message to all taxpayers. it's my favorite time of year again

and now -- i got a great new way to get deals. it's called bankamerideals, from bank of america. i choose the cash back deals in my mobile or online banking. i just use my bank of america debit or credit card when i pay. and i get as much as 15% cash back -- put into my account. this is cash back on top of other rewards i already get. best of all -- it's free. happy holidays. [ male announcer ] introducing bankamerideals, free for online banking customers. sign in to your online banking to choose your deals today.

progresso. in what world do potatoes, bacon and cheese add up to 100 calories? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. darrell hasn't been able to visit his mom back east in a long time. [ mom ] things are sometimes a little tight. i wasn't able to go to the wedding. [ emily jo ] since darrell couldn't get home, we decided to bring home to him and then just gave him

a little bit of help finding his way. ♪ [ laughs ] [ applause ] i love you. i love you. [ male announcer ] get together at the rekindle share event. buy one holiday drink, get one free this thursday through sunday. ♪ nice, clear, crisp morning. beautiful tree down there in 30 rockefeller plaza. we noticed over the last two mornings a little bit of a ratings decline during the weather hit, so we've upgraded and once again brought back the wonderful meteorologist dylan dreyer. good morning, dylan. >> good morning, bill. i was wondering if you were going to still toss to weather and let me do it, but --

>> please, make everyone happy. >> give you a break this morning. and you know, the weather actually is really pretty quiet. there's not really too many things going on, minus a rain shower or two. it's lightening up across portions of florida, but we're not going to see the severe weather we saw yesterday, but where there is rain, it is still falling pretty heavily at times. this cold front will continue to move through the area. back behind it, that high pressure is actually dragging down some cool temperatures. we started off the day with freeze warnings across southern texas, where temperatures were down in the lower 30s early on. we are going to see this rain continue to produce most of the heavier downpours right offshore, the eastern coast of florida, but we will still see some scattered showers and thunderstorms possible, especially through this morning before it does start to taper off. but across the northeast, we don't really have a whole lot going on. a couple clouds right now, but we'll see increasing sunshine. chilly up into boston at 32 degrees and new york city 37 degrees. temperatures today not too, too warm. we should top out in the 40s

later on this afternoon. bill? >> see, dylan, you're in trouble, because i actually know what you're doing and most anchors will sit here and daze off. next week, are we getting the snowstorm on the coast? >> you're going to let me handle that one, huh? i'm not buying into the whole snow situation yet, but we'll see. >> so, you said snow. you said snow next week. we heard it here. that's the translation. >> i believe her and not you. >> i guess we'll find out. let's turn more to sports now. good morning and thank you, everyone. all right, to sports! i had my interest piqued. brooklyn beat the nets in the first meeting of the season. well, it's back on. this time once again in brooklyn. the nets travel over the brooklyn bridge into brooklyn for this one. carmelo anthony. gamed tied at 93. boom! go ahead by two. into the paint turn-around jumper. knicks have the lead. anthony had a season-high 45 points. now less than 30 seconds, jason kidd, he's shooting 50% on the

year from three. he never did that with the nets in the finals. put the knicks on top. amazing. he's 39 years old. how clutch. let's take you to the final seconds of the game. nets needed three to tie it. wallace, no. rebound, kickout, deron williams, no! can't get it to fall. knicks overcome the 17-point first-quarter deficit and beat the nets 100-97. the knicks are now 16-5 on the year. the nets fall to 11-9, i believe five straight without brook lopez. now to the struggling lakers. who would imagine this at the beginning of the year? trying to get on track against the lowly cleveland cavaliers who have only four wins on the season. third quarter, kobe bryant, that's his bread and butter. how pretty. baseline jumper. bryant had a season-high 42 points in the game, but in the fourth, kyrie irving, he's been out injured. he's back. he buries the three to give them the 7-3 lead. they win 100-94, handing the lakers their ast loss in the last 11 games.

mike antonio, what's going on? the lakers have been dismal when kobe's scored more than 30 points, they have a record of 1-10. they're 8-3 when kobe's held under 30. of course, everyone in l.a.'s waiting for steve nash to come back. if he does, everyone will be fine and no one will ever remember this dismal start. now to the nfl and the new orleans saints bounty scandal players had their suspensions overturned by former commissioner paul tab beau, who was handling the appeals process. vilma and hargrove were still found guilty but scott fujita was cleared on the charge. all the team coach suspensions remain in effect. now the question is what does this all mean? mike, take it away. >> it means, one, the existing commissioner of football, goodell, took a helmet-to-helmet hit from the former commissioner, paul tagliabue -- >> slap. >> i mean, a real slap. two, it means that the players involved are going to have to

get back pay now, i would assume, because they lost their whole season. >> how about the saints fans? >> well, the saints fans are on the periphery in this. but three, it means the blame has finally and assertively been put where it belonged all the time, on the coaching staff of the new orleans saints. >> and that's it. so, we've got to wait and see if they get the money back or if they sue now. >> i assume they will. they lost a year's salary, most of them. scott fujita lost his reputation. he's clearly, according to commissioner tagliabue's rules, had nothing to do with this. >> maybe a precedent for the future of roger goodell's ruling. >> it also means no snow next week. i believe her. >> i'm making you do weather tomorrow. you're pretty funny. to baseball, some red sox fans are just regaining consciousness today after learning that youkilis will don the yankee pinstripes. the 33-year-old fenway favorite who was traded to the red sox last season, signed a one-year, $12 million deal with the yankees yesterday and will likely start at third base until

alex rodriguez recovers from hip surgery. youkilis joins bonds, roger clemens and johnny damon as returning as noble traitors to red sox nation. like to add to the list? >> what list? >> the traitor list. >> oh, no, no, no. >> we'll wait and see if he hits a couple home runs. >> i mean, the yankees are going to end up by july 4th, all of them being in assisted living. it's the oldest team in baseball. >> there's rooms available? >> i could play for the yankees next year. >> let us know what that facility's like, going to upgrade you. >> well, i live in a nice one. >> be put in the elevator. finally from indiana, we bring you a girl high school basketball score that brings meaning to the mercy room. bloomington south high school, congratulations. you beat arlington high school 107-2 last night in indianapolis. arlington south didn't make a single basket from the field, scoring only a free throw, one

each in the first half, in the second half. the high school athletic association does not currently have a mercy rule in place. how about the coach of the other team? coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," majority leader harry reid says it could take a christmas miracle to get both sides to agree on a fiscal cliff deal. meanwhile, the president said he's confident republicans will cave on the tax increases. we'll discuss the fiscal cliff with our "morning joe" panel. and now, mercifully, i need your help. are you with me on this one? the phrase fiscal cliff, i'm over it, time's up, date reached on the expiration, nails on the chalkboard annoying. can't we be a little more creative? this is where you come in. e-mail your alternative to the phrase "fiscal cliff," and i'll use the best one tomorrow on our show. we won't use fiscal cliff, i promise. so far, my best, budgetary bluff? yeah, the bar's been set very low. up next, we'll huddle around the water cooler, where jon stewart stepped out of his comfort zone with an

eminem-inspired rap for the michigan protesters.

well, enough with the real news. let's gather around the water cooler. and first, a little moment of silence. louis louis, who wouldn't miss a second of on-camera opportunity has been talking to the porcelain god all night.

not sure why. we wish you the best, louis. see you tomorrow morning. well, a day like today won't come around for another 89 years. it's 12/12/12. no, it's not a sign of the apocalypse, but this date is very special. it's the last triple-digit repeating date of the century. a record number are getting married today because of the luck of the day. allegedly, more than 7,000 couples will tie the knot, compared to 500 married on this day last year. turns out 12 is pretty lucky. joe namath wore number 12 when he led the jets to their only super bowl victory in 1969. the beatles put out 12 studio albums and there are, of course, 12 days of christmas, and the list goes on and on. but today is also divine. pope benedict will send his first official tweet from his ipad. everyone else, you're late. the pope started a pontiff account a few weeks ago but has yet to send his own tweet. looking forward to that today. and another creative attempt by drug smugglers to sneak

marijuana over the mexican border ends in defeat. remember this failed attempt back in october? the smugglers' jeep was left teetering on a border fence after attempting to drive a pot-filled suv up a ramp and over the fence. well, this time they're launching weed into the u.s. border patrol agents found these marijuana-filled soup cans along the arizona/mexican border, campbell's best. they believe smugglers use a cannon to propel them over the fence into a field several hundred feet away. over 30 full cans of pot were found, estimated at $42,000. "a" for effort? "f" for execution. and jon stewart has been watching protesters in michigan angry over the right-to-work bill that limits the power of unions, but when you're from the home eminem and "8 mile," stewart thinks you have to rap louder. >> protesters are swarming the michigan capitol building in lansing.

>> hey, hey, ho, ho, right-to-work has got to go! >> you're getting busted, you're disgusting! [ laughter ] >> dude, you're from michigan, detroit, "8 mile." you've got to come up with better rhymes than, busting disgusting! if you want to win the rap battle-of-got to put some effort into it! you had one job at one factory. wouldn't you seize every benefit you could? yo! ♪ palms sweaty, knees weak, building chevys. ♪ ♪ like the volt, you plug it in and you win ecologically, because if it were an actual race, you would not ♪ ♪ actually, you have to go for the union or robots are going to take away our jobs ♪ ♪ or to the chinese kids with the tiny hands the work will

go ♪ ♪ this opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo ♪ [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. military families face, we understand. at usaa, we know military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ] ♪ [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. usaa brings advice. call or visit us online. we're ready to help. [ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about.

so i introduced jill to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50. pro-health for life is a toothpaste that defends against tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel. conditions people over 50 experience. crest pro-health for life. so jill can keep living the good life. crest. life opens up when you do. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind.